Warmth
by The Dark Knight's Revenge
Summary: After the events of The Last Jedi, Rey and Poe have a brief moment of connection... with unexpected consequences. Now Rey has to balance training for the inevitable reunion with Ben, an advancing pregnancy, and a pilot who has no clue of the spark between them or knows what he's doing at any given time.


Rey sat in the Milennium Falcon, pinching the bridge of her nose to try and alleviate the tension headache infiltrating her other senses. Anxiety and worry ate at her. This was all that was left of the Resistance? Barely 40 people were milled around the Falcon, comforting each other and bandaging wounds where they could.

"Hey." a warm hand rested on her shoulder. She sensed Poe's energy before he'd even touched her. She could feel in The Force that he was worried for her, had a million questions about what had happened. But all she cared about was his warmth.

Rey took Poe's callused hand and gently pressed it to her cold cheek. His thumb wiped away the beginnings of a tear leaking down her face and he leaned his hips into the back of her chair as she more or less took possession of his arm.

"Do you want to go someplace more private?" Poe said softly, noticing the looks the other ship's members were giving them. Rey nodded. As if she weighed nothing, Poe scooped her up into his arms and slowly made his way to the back of the ship. Rey didn't protest.

Poe set her down on an empty bunk around the corner from everyone else. It afforded a little privacy where they could talk. For a moment, Rey just sat and let Poe gently tug the knots out of her hair, smoothing the shorter curls down around her face. After only being touched with revulsion, lust, fear or hatred the last few months of her life, the pilot's gentle and friendly caresses felt like heaven.

"I've seen... so many things since we parted, I don't know how I could tell you all of them." She finally said hoarsely, opening her blue eyes to meet Poe's concerned brown ones.

"Start with the easy ones." Poe said, pinching her chin affectionately. "Did you see the sun rise? Sun set? Cute, furry animals?" Rey laughed in spite of herself.

"I know you saw cute furry animals because the ship is goddamn near infested with them." He continued.

"Chewbacca is a big softie when it comes to the porgs." Rey replied, wiping her face. She felt grimy and travel-weary. Her robes were stained with various battlefield detritus. She picked at a blaster hole at her hem.

"Pity about your new duds. I never seen anyone who looked so good in Jedi robes." Poe said. He kicked over a crate so he could sit across from her.

"Did you ever see a Jedi before today?" Rey asked. Poe flushed. They studied each other for a moment.

"You're hurt!" They exclaimed at the same time. Poe was looking at the deep gash on her upper arm, she was looking at a purpling bruise on his forehead.

"Just a scratch." They replied simultaneously. Their eyes met again.

"I'm..." Rey started.

"...Yeah?" Poe finished.

They were lips and teeth and tongues before they knew it, all the anxiety and tension of the last few days pouring off their skin as their bodies entwined for a few searing hot moments laid out in a back corridor of the Milennium Falcon behind a few storage crates.

Two months later, Rey was absolutely beside herself, and there would be nothing Poe Dameron could do to fix the situation.

Rey was pregnant. And the source of this information was not her own body, but someone else entirely. But she knew it was true, once she was aware of the little spark of life inside her, it practically wouldn't stop intruding on her thoughts through The Force.

Ben had noticed practically the instant their minds melded, once again unwelcome. Rey thought she had done everything right to block him off, to brick up the hole that was merging their halves of the galaxy together.

 _"You're-" Ben choked the moment they were together. He was looking her up and down._

 _"I'm what...?" Rey said, checking herself. Nothing felt out of the ordinary. She could feel the rage building inside of him, pouring off him in waves. He turned and hit something, she heard it crack._

 _"You're pregnant?!" He thundered, turning back to her._

 _"I'm what?!" She started to laugh. "I've never-"_

 _Oh gods, she had._

 _"Who was it? The stormtrooper traitor? The pilot?"_

 _"None of your business." Rey said absently. Her hand fluttered to her stomach. If she concentrated, she could just barely feel it. Barely a blip on the radar. But it was there._

 _"So it is the pilot. You gave yourself to some flyboy who offered you a ride in his cockpit." Ben spat. Their mind bridge closed, leaving her sitting in her quarters staring at the blank wall. She felt completely empty._

 _Ben wasn't wrong. Poe Dameron had treated her like any other girl. She liked it that way. She didn't like distractions, and there was so much to do with setting up the base and continuing her training as best as she could. He wasn't treating her terribly, but he also wasn't treating her like anything._

Rey didn't regret having her first sexual encounter on the floor of the Milennium Falcon, she hadn't just done it with the first pilot that asked. But that didn't make her feel special either.

Leia was going to have a stroke. Rey had avoided leaving her room after she found out, knowing as soon as she approached Leia her secret would be out.

Rey had been meditating in her quarters on how exactly to bring this up to the General in private, but so far just blurting out that her two most reckless rebels had created a life on the floor of her husband's ship really didn't have a good shine to it.

She was going to tell Poe too. And he was going to get an earful.

Her comm beeped. She abandoned meditating to pick it up.

 _"Rey. Leia wants us."_ Poe's casual tone came through. Rey's stomach flipped.

"Is it important? I-I'm... Not feeling well." Rey replied.

"Well, it's Leia. If it weren't important, she wouldn't ask. How bad are you?"

Rey debated lying. She could play sick and gain a few more hours of deliberation. But then again, Poe had a point about Leia. And there was the off chance she wouldn't notice.

"I'll be there..." Rey sighed. Her stomach churned.

* * *

Two hours later, Rey regretted every decision that had led her to this point. The meeting was supposed to be a pledge of support from their allies in the outer rim, but all they'd done was go round and round over the same issues. She had a swirling headache that was making her stomach churn, Poe looked like he was about to take a blaster to them all and even Leia was beginning to look worn.

"The First Order has technology we haven't even begun to adapt yet..." One of the leaders was saying. His aide added something in alien that Rey couldn't understand, but could tell was some sort of objection by the way his green skin flushed pink while he blubbered in his own tongue.

"Yes, but we have the engineers-" Leia began.

"You have overqualified pilots and underqualified leadership!" Another leader practically shouted. He had been going for the negative in the loudest tone possible since his arrival.

"We have many different types here at the Rebellion. You should be respectful." Leia covertly waved two fingers over her walking stick. Rey felt the tug at the Force and tried to hide a smile. Leia wasn't above the odd Force persuasion when it suited her.

"I should be more respectful." The leader said, looking down into his drink.

Rey felt the pressure building between her temples. And her stomach was still churning.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm not feeling well." She said, standing up. Leia nodded and she headed toward the door. Poe looked at her like she'd just stolen his favorite blaster from him, like he couldn't believe she got off scott free.

"I think you gentlemen should look over my proposal, give it some thought, tour the base, and reconvene in the morning." Rey heard Leia say behind her as the door whooshed shut. She made a beeline towards her room, head buzzing. The lighted hallway was swirling at the edges. Where was this coming from? Wasn't it too soon for her pregnancy to affect her this way? She'd missed meals, but that usually didn't cause her harm.

"Rey!" A voice came from behind her. Running footsteps.

"You all right? You look kinda pale. Listen, nice move you pulled with Leia there. Those guys were going to debate money until the New First-O swoops in around us... Rey?"

She had leaned a hand on the corridor wall, her vision squiggling worse. She felt short of breath.

"Rey?" Ben's voice intruded over Poe's.

"Not... now..." Rey panted. She felt herself blacking out. She shoved Ben away and focused on Poe.

"I'd like to go to my room. Help me." She said. He caught her around the waist and helped her stagger there, offering numerous times to _just carry her._ Rey refused. She crawled into bed gratefully like she'd been away for days instead of hours.

"I think you should go to the medbay..." Poe said, hovering in the lit doorway.

"No." Rey said, nausea biting the back of her throat. "It'll pass."

"Can I stay? Just to make sure you're fine?"

Rey couldn't remember if she said yes or no in reply, she slipped into unconsciousness. She could vaguely hear Ben questioning her, somewhere in the back of her mind, but she ignored his questions.


End file.
